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View Full Version : My motor upgrade is starting!!



Bobo
02-15-2007, 19:43
Here is a little background so you can see what I've been up against:

When I had a few thousand miles on my truck, I bent a rod from a bad injector. The dealer fixed it under warranty and sent me on my way. I could not get the truck to run properly after the new rod was installed. The truck would begin to miss under load or over 70% throttle. I had the truck into the dealer for reflashes and updates about 5 times. Truck had all stock parts on the motor including the cat. I ended up installing a EGR blocker plate to help with the issues, but it was not 100% fixed. I had to load a predator 40hp tune with the EGR blocked to get it to run right. Fast forward about a year....

EFI was released and I began to do my own tuning last winter. My truck never smoked at idle or missed a beat...as long as it was tuned. In October 06 I noticed as the weather got colder, my truck had a haze of smoke at idle. I bought and installed twin turbos soon after this because I had been waiting for them. Once they showed up, I could not help but put them on. The smoke at idle stayed the same, but the cold weather caused some hard starting issues. In early November, I installed my ATS twin CP3 kit. I paid the dealer to do a compression test on the truck and it came back fine before the CP3 install. The weather got very cold and the starting issue was bothering me. I decided to do my own compression test. It looked fine. I had my buddies helping me work on the truck and we were all wondering what could be the issue. I used spare parts off my buddy's LLY to test on my truck. Nothing seemed to fix the issues. Stock tuning was not helping me any since I knew it didn't run right when it left the dealer. I used the 40hp Predator tune and it still wasn't running right. About this time, I got in contact with an injector specialist, Don from F1 Diesel. He agreed to test my injectors and make them flow better for me. I installed the injectors hoping that would fix the issue, but it was still the same. Knowing the mods on my truck, its potential, and not being able to drive it for the past 4 months because I was scared it was going to blow up took its toll on my wife, my friends that helped me build this truck, and myself. With some help from my friends, I decided to take it to Merchant Automotive(MA) in Holland, MI (thanks for the tow, Eric S.) and have Merchant and his team fix it. MA had Volker from MDE make some changes to the tuning to get rid of the smoke, but that did not tell us if there was an internal issue. I finally decided to have the motor gone through and have some upgrades done to be sure this don't happen in the future.

Today:

Merchant pulled my motor. It should be taken apart sometime in the next couple days. I'll keep you all tuned in as to what he finds.

Planned upgrades for now:

Merchant is installing head studs. He is also installing a set of connecting rods I bought from Huckstorf Diesel. The rods come from TTS. Merchant has a great team and one of the techs in his shop worked in a machine shop for several years running all sorts of equipment. Merchant bought the equipment that is needed to do most of the engine build in house. He can now key cam's, cranks, custom fab most any part, and do valve clearances and piston modifications. I am having my pistons decked to lower the compression to 15:1. Merchant is blueprinting my motor to insure all the tolerances from GM are improved upon in this build. I'm having the crank and the cam keyed to improve on that design flaw also. I'm going to be running the thickest gaskets available from GM and the ARP headstuds should keep things nice and tight. I am not doing any upgrades to the heads or cam at this time. The only part of the motor build that is not being done in house is the balancing. This is done at a local machine shop. My goal is 700RWHP in a daily driver that is as dependable as a stock truck. I'm hoping the lower compression does not hurt my fuel economy too much, but I'll report back on that after I put some miles on it.

Check back for updates:

The goal is to have my truck up and running by next Friday, the 23rd of Feb. If the motor tear down don't bring up any surprises, Merchant is confident that the build should be complete by then. My rods were shipped out today. They should be at MA on Monday or Tuesday pending any weather related delays. I'll keep you updated and wish us some luck! Thanks to everyone who has helped me along the way. I should have a good running truck we can go play with as soon as this is all taken care of! I might even post some pics of the progress if Eric has time to take some. Stay tuned !!!

THANK YOU ERIC AND THE MA CREW!!!

Kennedy
02-15-2007, 21:54
I hope that the compression drop works out for you. That's getting a bit low even for a HPCR system. I think I'd not want to be downwind on a cold start at that CR. Hopefully it can be tuned to work.

Bobo
02-16-2007, 18:13
Merchant called an hour or so ago. He found the problem!! I'll post pics as soon as I get some. Anyone that needs 8 short rods or blown head gaskets, I have some for sale!

SoTxPollock
02-21-2007, 12:24
You must have hydrauliced all the cylinders. I too wonder if you didn't go too low on the compression although it would work great when your racing it may not torque up as quickly as you may want at low rpm hard pulls, but then you can always downshift it can't you. Good Luck I'd like to be there to see it run.

Bobo
02-23-2007, 18:56
Update:

MA had the pistons cut and the motor is out at the machine shop getting balanced. I'm getting all new bearings and new rings along with the head gaskets and head studs. I might get to pick the truck up next weekend if all goes well, but I'm willing to wait so nothing is rushed. I have to give Eric credit, he and his staff have tried to slow me down because thy want it done right. I was pressing to have it done this weekend but they pretty much told me to take it a day at a time. It is better safe than sorry and they have done a great job of getting things done in a timely fashion and they are doing it with care. Thanks MA.

No pics yet, sorry.

Tough Guy
02-27-2007, 21:01
Status Report?

SoTxPollock
03-01-2007, 12:04
Inquiring minds want to know. Is it ready yet????????
I'm sure Eric will give you proper break in instructions, but just wanted you to know that a diesel has to work to seat the new rings. Probably need to be looking for a heavy trailer to pull around for awhile.

Buck
03-15-2007, 01:14
Bobo, what's happening now? Are you driving it yet? Pics?

dmaxalliTech
03-30-2007, 20:50
He is driving it. We finished it up last week Thursday and Friday night we left for a 1600 mile round trip to TN with trailer in tow. Got back and changed the oil, Bobo loaded a tune in it and let me tell you, WOW is all I can say. We towed with it and it had only a 40 hp tune and we could pass anything at anytime on the highway with 12k behind us. Everybit of 450 hp on the SOTP meter.

I am sure bobo will be able to give more of a report now that he has a few days under himself in it.